Can't believe drifting brought me to the Acropolis!
Me and Team Orange's Kazuhiro Tanaka in front of the Parthenon at the Acropolis. That place is pretty amazing, towering over all of Athens. This is the place where the ancient Greeks invented stuff like the first hospitals, theaters and democracy. Nothing major.
Hot weather and hot chicks!
Aside from all the vintage rally cars, grilled lamb and ancient architecture, I was trippin on all the hot women in Greece. They all looked like they just stepped off the pages of Maxim magazine! Especially at Super Paradise, atopless beach on the Greek isle of Mykonos, one of Europe's top party destinations. Sorry, but you'll have to checksuperstreetonline.com for those pics! But here is a photo I shot of our cute waitress at the Mall in Athens. Not bad for a compact point and shoot camera!
Destination: ComptonStraight Outta Compton
Shortly after I got back from Greece, I began work with a Seattle-based production company on a documentary film, which will air on cable networks later this year. We interviewed several top personalities in import drag and drifting, but for this segment, we brought it back to the old school, interviewing the godfather of the import scene we all know today--Ken Miyoshi from Import Showoff. For Ken's segment, we went back to the birthplace of illegal import drag racing: Compton's Maria Street.
Destination: Seattle WA and Vancouver BCAn AE86 is a terrible thing to waste
Next on the agenda was Formula D Seattle...but while everyone else was running around Evergreen Speedway preparing for the event, I noticed a wrecked AE86 sitting in the junkyard in the back section of the track. So sad, AE86s are getting so rare all over the worl;, it really makes me cherish my own AE86s even more.
Formula D Seattle and a short trip to Vancouver BC
I think Formula D events are always fun, but at this event in particular we were hustlin'! We had to work extra hard to finish shooting our film project, but as soon as we finished, I drove up to Vancouver (Canada) with some friends for a quick business meeting, and then a relaxing day of shopping and sightseeing!
Destination: San Francisco CAMotoring J Style
Last stop on our little tour is the first inaugural Motoring J Style event in Northern California. While there was an amateur drifting competition at the event, MJS is primarily a carshow dedicated to classic 1970s and 1980s Japanese cars like Toyota Corollas, Datsun 240Zs and 510s, Mazda RX2s and so forth. I was busy all day working as the official announcer for the MJS event, but at the end of the show, I was so happy to see my old car--the 1974 TE27 Corolla SR5 that I sold to my good friend Patrick Ng. Only now it was completely restored and refurbished to better-than-new condition, and what was even crazier: all theprevious owners of the car were in attendance. Here's a picture of the restored 1974 Corolla, with Patrick (owner of the car), Me, Tom and Loy. This beautiful orange TE27 all passed through our ownership at one point, but now it is in better than mint condition with Patrick as the owner. What a happy ending to an amazing trip.